Letter to supporters from Paul Barber

2025-12-15T20:15+00:00

We are aware that the club’s decision to find a new format to recreate and preserve the messages on the heritage tiles has caused distress to some fans and confusion for others. We are very sorry for this.

Firstly, this was never our intention. We are fully aware that many tiles represent significant sentimental and emotional moments and connections in people’s lives, hence our desire to protect and preserve the messages.

However, dating back to the very early days of the Amex, and with a third party selling the tiles, the club has never had any records for tile purchasers or for whom the tiles might have been dedicated. Only records from January 2023 have been made available.

For the reasons explained above, we have not been able to contact all those people who bought the tiles directly. Sadly, it’s also likely that some people are no longer with us, while others may have lost their connection with the club.

Regrettably, this has made the communication of the changes we plan to make very challenging for our staff and very impersonal for our fans, for which we can only explain the reasons and, again, apologise.

We are fully aware that to change something in which time, money, sentiment and emotion has been invested is very difficult. But these are the same reasons we wish to find a new method to better preserve and protect those memories and sentiments, so we don’t have to make future changes.

With no thanks due to our local climate, the current heritage stones are in various conditions. Some remain in decent shape, but some have lost their inscriptions and others are cracked or in danger of disintegration and, whilst they may look in good condition, many are very brittle. We wish to avoid this issue getting progressively worse as time passes.

Regular ongoing maintenance of the tiles hasn’t been enough to withstand the constant weathering, so we considered different options to try to remedy the issue including repairing, re-siting and covering the tiles in some way but the same issues of ongoing weathering would remain, hence the difficult decision to make a change.

In looking at all new options, we have listened very carefully to the heartfelt feedback we have received in the past few days and we will not merge the heritage messages with the new 125 wall as originally proposed.

Instead, we will re-focus our attention on a new format that will allow a higher degree of tangibility and tactility than a digital installation as well as doing our very best to fully respect the original messages and sentiments.

We are also aware that for some fans this will be the second time their tiles have been re-positioned (many tiles were initially floor stones but only lasted a couple of seasons), so we want to ensure the new format will provide genuine quality and longevity.

We won’t be able to achieve all of this by reproducing the same clay tiles or by putting any new format in the same exposed location as we will simply invite the same ongoing maintenance challenges and issues. But we will look to be as sympathetic as possible to the current layout of the tiles, and we will do our very best to ensure any new installation is just as accessible around the stadium. We will aim to have the new installation in place as early as possible in the 2026/27 season.

Once we are satisfied we have the best possible solution we will share designs on our website and we will ensure that ALL current messages on the heritage tiles are transferred across free of any charge to the new format. We will also ensure the new installation is maintained and remains fully available for fans to see and interact with on matchdays and the days in between.

In the meantime, please be assured that nothing will happen to the existing heritage tiles until the end of the season. We want to provide fans and their families with plenty of time to see their tile in situ and to take as many photographs as they wish. We will do our best to limit any further degradation in this period.

Once again, we are very sorry for any distress that has been, or may yet be, caused as we work on finding the best possible long-term solution. We genuinely wish to ensure all of those important sentiments continue to stand proud in their own display and are preserved for the longest possible time for future generations.

Thank you very much for your patience and your support for the club. It’s very much appreciated. This remains a very difficult and challenging issue for all of us with no easy answer. However, please be assured our staff have done, and will continue to do, their very best to ensure this matter is managed as sensitively as possible for everyone.

Best wishes, Paul Barber